An in-flight audio recording captured a panicked exchange between pilots after a packed Delta plane risked colliding with another aircraft before landing in Boston.
The troubling incident occurred on Thursday when Delta Flight 263, traveling from Paris to New York, was forced to divert to Boston’s Logan International Airport because of severe weather conditions.
As the Delta flight, filled with 284 passengers and 11 crew members, attempted to land, Cape Air Flight 584 was taking off from an intersecting runway, according to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
‘What the heck?’ The Cape Air pilot was heard asking, according to a FlightAware.com transmission.
‘Heavy, that was close,’ the Delta pilot replied, after noting that the plane had returned to an altitude of 3,000 feet.
‘Yeah, man. Not cool,’ the Cape Air pilot responded in disbelief.
While the Delta flight ultimately landed safely and no one was harmed, the incident revealed they just narrowly dodged disaster.
According to a statement from the FAA, the Delta plane had to perform a ‘go-round,’ meaning the pilot stopped trying to land and returned the plane to altitude.
A Delta flight had a close call with another plane during a nearly disastrous emergency landing (file photo)
The FAA is investigating.
Aviation expert John Nance told WCVB attributed the issues on members of air traffic control, who have plagued by staff shortages exacerbated by the ongoing government shutdown.
The incident ‘shows you how much pressure the controllers are under,’ he said.
Nance described the incident as ‘a mistake, but it was not a near miss,’ noting there was at least a half a mile between the two planes before the go-around order was issued.
‘There is a certain amount of legal separation, in other words, you don’t want airplanes to be within certain distances of each other,’ he explained.
‘This apparently violated those standards.’
The scare has only amplified existing concerns about air traffic control amid widespread delays and horrific reports of other recent incidents.
The incident occurred at Boston’s Logan International Airport (pictured)
‘Every time I open my phone, it’s more news about something with a plane, so I have been trying to avoid reading those,’ one airport-goer, Jeanie Gallant, told WCVB from Logan.
‘It’s certainly scary to have that happen at all,’ another added.
‘The reality is we are stressing [the air traffic control system],’ Nance said. ‘We’re stressing the safety standards by all the pressures we are putting on these controllers.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Delta and the FAA for more information. A Cape Air spokesperson said the company is ‘aware of the incident that occurred on October 30 and we are still gathering information at this time.’
